11-25-2015

Good Morning All!!     

          Matthew 24:6; “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.”

    Well, we certainly are hearing about them.  There are wars and there are rumors everywhere.  It is always amazing how someone sitting in a café or a local gathering place knows the thinkings and plans of the President of the United States or the generals or the leaders from around the world but at least one of them always does.  They usually have a nephew or a cousin who knows someone who works in the army or something.  Add to this the fact that a lot of this is happening in the Middle East and visions of the Revelation to St. John begin to percolate to the surface.

    Don’t buy into it.  Don’t let the noise distract you.  Jesus really is pretty clear.  The end times will always be there.  Jesus tells us to pay little attention to the “musings” of so called experts.  Look to what Jesus says.  He told his disciples (that includes you and me) “But concerning that day and hour no one knows.”  No one knows; all we know is that there will be an end.  There will be a time when Jesus returns in glory.  We are not given a timeline nor can we figure one out.  Jesus message to us is clear; everything is in my hands.  There is nothing that has happened, is happening or will happen that has not already been taken care of.  Jesus tells us, “I have overcome the world.”  There is nothing that will defeat us or separate us from God’s loving arms.  So don’t be alarmed; don’t worry about what is to be.

    We are to, at all times and all places; continue to serve God by being his agents of healing, his servants in this world of pain and sorrow.  We are called to witness to Jesus’ death and resurrection.  We are called to witness to the reconciliation and redemption that this gives us.  The world will continue to turn; the world will continue to crumble where sin continues to corrupt it.  Yet Jesus has prevailed.  This we know and this we can hold onto.

    So have peace.  Know that all is in God’s hands and his plans are for us to prosper and to live in eternal bliss with him.  In many ways, the events of this age are why we pray, “Come, Lord Jesus.”  When Jesus returns all the evil, all the pain, all the sorrow, sadness and death will end.  When Jesus returns, all will be healed; all will be perfect.  So we pray, “Come, Lord Jesus.”  We pray for the return to come; to come quickly.

   Until that happens, we are to be about our task in God’s kingdom.  We are to serve the Lord where he has placed us and we can rest assured that God’s grace and peace rests upon; regardless of what the world does, attempts to do or tries to lead us to think.  The world and the devil have lost, Jesus has won and we share in that victory.  We have nothing to fear; peace is ours.

Father of all mercies, in this uncertain world we have peace because of Jesus.  Keep us mindful of this mercy and help us to comfort those who do not know your peace.  Guide us by your Spirit that we may share the peace that only you can give.  In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret       

11-24-2015

 Good Morning All!!     

      Colossians 3:23; “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,”

    Why are we thankful?  Over the next few days we will celebrate Thanksgiving.  We spend one or two days, eat a phenomenal amount of food and think all is well.  We are thankful for what we have and envious for what we do not.  We try to keep everything for our own and often refuse to look to those in need.  We begrudge the needy and look for excuses to walk away from those in need.  When we do help, we expect recognition, receipts and compensation.  We expect a pat on the back.  The truly interesting thing is when this is our living pattern we rarely are content and rarely are at peace.

   Our verse is part of Paul’s explanation to the Colossians about how to live a Christian life.  He starts the chapter with the premise “If you have been raised by Christ… put your sight on higher things, the things that are above.”  We no longer live for the approval of others, we no longer love for the acknowledgment of others, we no longer live even for ourselves.  Rather we live for the Lord.  Whatever we do, we do for the Lord.  Whatever we do, we do as an expression of thanks to Jesus for what he has done for us.  While doing things for other people may go unnoticed or unappreciated, everything we do for Jesus is the result of His love showing through us.

    We are part of the kingdom of God.  We are part of the healing and restoring of the creation.  Every part of it needs healing; every part needs to be cared for and restored.  Jesus has established us, his church, here on earth to continue the task that he began; the task of spreading the news that salvation has come in the person of Jesus and our hope is secure in Him.  When Jesus returned to heaven, he gave the task of preaching the Gospel, of bringing healing and bringing about the restoration of creation.

    Everything we do should now reflect this truth.  Every action we take, every word we speak should be done in the manner that brings praise to God.  Everything we do, we are doing for Jesus.  When we see our actions in this fashion, we will see a greater joy and contentment in our lives and in our response to events.  When you aid a homeless person, you are aiding Jesus.  When you clothe the less fortunate, you are doing it for Jesus.  It doesn’t matter if the person you helped said thank you or even knew you were the one who helped, Jesus knows.  Jesus knows whose actions are based on love and whose actions are based on greed or guilt, on selfishness or ego.  Serve the Lord with all your heart and you will have joy.

Father, often are the times when we lose sight of the truth.  We lose sight of your compassion for us.  We fail to remember your atoning sacrifice which gives us life.  Restore us Lord; that we may serve you in all that we do.  In your wonderful name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret     

11-23-2015

Good Morning All!!     

       Luke 10:41-42; “But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”  

    Are you one of those people who stress about everything?  If you invite someone over for dinner or an evening of entertaining, do you worry about it for days in advance?  If you are planning a trip, do you go over the details over and over?  When planning something, do you make a list and then wear the list out going over and over it?  You may just be very detail oriented or you may be somewhat obsessive.  Usually, it isn’t that big of a deal, sometimes it even helps to have someone like this on a board or task assignment.  Yet there are times when this type of detail attention can cause problems.

    Our verses come at the end of the story of Mary and Martha at a time when Jesus visited them.  Martha hustled and bustled about fixing a wonderful meal, entertaining and then cleaning up.  Mary just sat and listened to Jesus.  Martha became very upset at her sister; Martha was worried about many things but not the important thing.  Martha was worried about all the fluff and not the substance.  She was more worried about looks and feels and not with the important part; building a relationship with Jesus.

    There are many times we do the same thing in our relationships with our family and friends.  We are more worried about the fluff; where do we go, where do we eat, how do we spend our time playing and we do not worry about what builds our relationships.  We need to listen to each other and share in our joy, excitement, our fears and our pain.  When we only focus on the fluff the depth and the strength of our relationships are challenged.

     The same is true of our faith relationship with Jesus.  As we approach Thanksgiving and Christmas, where will your emphasis be, on baking and buying gifts or will it be on the joy of the Savior?  It is easy for the chaos of the world to distract us from what is truly important in our life; that we have much to be thankful for, that Jesus came as a baby, grew into an adult and then died for your sins and rose again to show that it was valid.  This is the most important thing that we trust God’s promise of eternal life because of Jesus.  The rest of the stuff is just fluff.  So we need to be careful not to be like Martha and let the cares of the world pull us down.  We need to look to Mary’s example and focus on Jesus.  We need to let the dishes go for a while and not worry about the exquisite meal.  We need to focus on our relationships with each other and especially with our Lord. Keep the necessary thing mindful.

Dear Father, too often we let the cares of the world bog us down especially when we think they are what is important.  Keep our hearts and eyes focused on you.  Keep us working on the relationships with the family and friends that you give us.  Hold u close in your arms.  In Jesus precious name we pray, amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

11-22-2015

Good Morning All!!     

Deuteronomy 8:18;  “But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.”

     “and so confirms his covenant’; now there’s a phrase you don’t hear too often.  We don’t use the idea of a covenant anymore.  In the ancient world “covenant” was the closest, holiest, most solemn and most indissoluble compact conceivable.  To break a covenant was to bring about your own death and destruction.  Most of our contracts today have some form of “escape clause” in them.  But a covenant is much higher, more sacred and never able to be broken.

    In the ancient world, there were two basic types of covenants.  The first was one between equals like when two kings make a peace treaty and a covenant to maintain it.  The second type is far more important to us.  It is the type when a lower person like a prince or even lower would make a covenant with the king.  This type of covenant kept the lower guy safe but at the will of the king.    All the burden lies on the lower person, no of the responsibility lies with the king.

    The second type of covenant is the one which we have with God.  The only thing is; God is the lower ranked member.  The covenant which God made with Abram was one where the entire burden is on God not on Abram.  (You can read this in Gen. 15: 7-21.)  This shows us that the motive for God to make this kind of covenant was purely his love and mercy which he feels and shows to us.  It is not fear but love for you and for me.  This is why God showers us with all his blessing.  He loves us, protects us and desires to show us his love.

     Note that the covenants God made with man were ultimately made to fulfill His gracious purpose to redeem man from the penalty, power and presence of sin. The final covenant which God made with man was the new covenant which is Christ Jesus.  This is what Jesus meant when he told the disciples that the Lord’s Supper was the “new covenant.”   This relies on nothing at all from man but everything entirely from God.  We only have to trust it and then we trust it with the faith which God gives us.

     Yet today, too often, we fail to see that God is indeed keeping his covenant with his people.  He always shows us a way through our trials and adversities.  He always grants us the grace to meet those challenges.  God never said that adversity would not happen; he only promised to keep us safe through it.  That is part of the covenant as well.  We are blessed by God to be a blessing to the world.  God goes with us all the way.

Father of all good gifts, we praise you for the river of grace which flows over us with such depth that we cannot ever measure it.  We are not worthy, yet you continue to send us these great gifts.  Keep us mindful of your blessings and use us to be a blessing to those around us.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret